Jesus Christ - The Servant of God

August 28, 1998 ~ Ivanhoe Holiness Camp

September 6, 1998 ~
Pickering Standard Church

Isaiah 49:1-13 -Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations; Before I was born
the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made
my mouth like sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me
into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, "You
are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." But I said,
"I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reword is with my God."
And now the LORD says - he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring
Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of
the LORD and my God has been my strength - he says: "It is too small a thing for
you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of
Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that
you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." This is what the
LORD says - the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel - to him who was despised and
abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers; "Kings will see you and rise
up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the
Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you." This is what the LORD says: "In
the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help
you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to
restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the
captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!' They will feed
beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither
hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He
who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of
water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be
raised up. See, they will come from afar - some from the north, some from
the west, some from the region of Aswan. Shout for joy, O heavens,
rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his
people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Call attention to
v. 6: "...I will also make you a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring
my salvation to the ends of the earth,"

A - Israel
needed to be restored to their God

-
the
Israel of Isaiah's day was a nation divided

-
the
ten northern tribes were soon to be conquered by the Assyrians and taken away to
endure captivity in a foreign land

-
the
two southern tribes would experience times during which they were faithful to
God alternating with times during which they were not faithful to God,
eventually they too would be conquered by a foreign power, the Babylonians, and
taken to endure captivity in a foreign country

-
the
Israel of Isaiah's day was only partially faithful to God

-
it
was for their disobedience that the nation would be destroyed and made the
prisoner of nations that did not know the God of Israel, the one true God, and
which were utterly corrupt. God told the prophet Habakkuk He would use
these nations to conquer Israel to punish her and Habakkuk responded by saying:

Habakkuk 1:12-17
-O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we
will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock,
you have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil,
you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than
themselves? You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures
that have no ruler. The wicked foe pull all of them in his net, he gathers
them up in his dragnet; for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the
choicest food. Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations
without mercy?

He could not
understand why God would allow a Godless nation to plunder His chosen people.
God responded by telling Habakkuk that these Godless nations would also be
punished for their excess's, and that the period of their captivity would not go
on forever. Through the Holy Spirit Jeremiah spoke the following prophecy:

Jeremiah
29:10-14 -This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed
for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you
back to this place [the promised land]. For I know the plans I have for
you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray
to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you
seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD,
"and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the
nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will
bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

God would restore
Israel both to the promised land and to Himself; the prayer that Daniel makes to
God asking Him to restore Israel asks for both spiritual and physical
restoration, not because the people deserve it but because of God's great mercy:

Daniel 9:17-19 -Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake,
O Lord, look with favor on you desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and
hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name.
We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your
great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and
act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your
people bear your name.

B - This
Restoration Could Occur Only Because of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Further along in Isaiah’s Servant prophecies, Isaiah makes clear that it would
be because of the substitution of the servant in Israel's place that she would
be forgiven and made right with God:

Isaiah 53:4-6,
12 -Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we
considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and
the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all...For he bore the sins of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus said this
Himself when He told His disciples that there was no other way to the Father but
through Him:

John 14:6 -I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.

Israel’s God, and
our God, is a forgiving God, as He told Moses on Mount Sinai:

Exodus 34:6-7 -And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the
compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion
and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”

Yet in His
forgiveness there is the foreknowledge of Christ crucified. God is
forgiving not because He is able to overlook sin, Habakkuk’s complaint
abundantly answers that fear, He is forgiving because His own Son will pay the
price for sin and take upon Himself our punishment as well as that of the
Israelites.

C - The
Restoration is not limited to the nation of Israel. Isaiah's prophecy of
the servant, which we are studying here, indicates that the servant, Jesus
Christ, for no other could possibly have made even one man right with God, would
also be:

Isaiah 49:6 -A light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the
earth.

In John we read of
Jesus telling Nicodemus that all who believe in Jesus Christ throughout all the
world will be forgiven and made children of God - only those and no others:

John 3:16-18 -For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through
him [as it was already condemned through the fall]. Whoever believes in
him is not condemned [he has been saved from his sin and made a child of God],
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not
believed in the name of God's one and only Son [the only One who could save
him].

Salvation is
universal in that, if each one of the five billion or more people alive on earth
at this instant suddenly gave their lives over to the control of God, He would
save each one of them. Sadly, not everyone in the world will do so; I
think that each of us can think of friends, relatives, or acquaintances that
have deliberately refused the free gift of God.

D - Because
of His Sacrifice the Servant is Worthy of Praise. Isaiah goes on to say
that the servant will receive honour:

Isaiah 49:7 -This is what the LORD says - the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel - to him who
was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings
will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD,
who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Those who put Him
to death, as was said earlier, despised Jesus, and yet because of His perfect
obedience He will receive the greatest honour, as we read in the letter to the
Hebrews:

Hebrews 1:1-4 -In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times
and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom
he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his
being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided
purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
So he became as superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior
to theirs.

God will give His
Son all glory because He was faithful in His mission and because of this many
millions of people will be permitted to enter heaven, the kingdom of God:

Revelation
5:11-12 -Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering
thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They
encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud
voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth
and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Then I heard every
creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that
is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise
and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"

Let us receive this
salvation, thankfully, giving God glory for saving us through Jesus Christ, and
giving Jesus Christ glory for giving Himself up for our sakes. He is
worthy. He alone is worthy!